


Acting Off for the Right Reasons

by makingitwork



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Hugging, M/M, Minor Character Death, Pre-Slash, Regret, Tears, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 07:24:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1460782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makingitwork/pseuds/makingitwork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spencer's acting differently, he's late and snapping at his friends. Morgan's instructed to find out why, but will he get effected by Reid's words so much so that he forgets to find out the real reason for his actions? Nice little one shot, happy ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Acting Off for the Right Reasons

“Um,” Penelope wavered off, they all looked up as Reid walked in, 30 minutes late. His boy band hair a hot mess on his head in a purple shirt with a grey waist coast and tight dark trousers, his satchel over one shoulder and coffee in one hand. He took his seat, barely acknowledging his team members. Hotch frowned, but said nothing. “Okay, as I was saying-“

“Wait,” Emily cut her off, looking at Reid pointedly, confused as to why no one was saying anything. She hadn’t been here long, but she knew the rules “What’s up Reid? You’re half an hour late?”

“I’m not allowed to be late?” was the quick and snappy reply, he barely looked up, setting down his coffee and tapping his shoe against the floor irrespectively. 

“Well…I guess,” Emily frowned, looking to her friends for back up, but they were all too shocked to offer any assistance, she tried again “It’s just…I’ve never known you to be late-“

“Oh?” Reid’s heavily sarcastic tone made her slink back into her chair and he stood, glaring at her with dark brown eyes “You’ve ‘never known me’ to be late? Well excuse me Emily, I guess everything you notice, and you see must be correct! You barely know me- you’ve been a part of this team for what? 2 months? And in all that time you’ve spoken exactly 376 words to me. So you know what- you don’t anything about me, and you have no right to comment on anything that I do,” he headed for the door “And quite frankly, I don’t give a crap about what you think, or what you know, or what you’ve seen.” He took a breath “I’m going to the file room.” And he was gone. 

They all sat there in stunned silence, before Rossi piped up “What the hell was that about?”

“I have no idea,” Morgan frowned, watching Reid disappear through another door. “Anybody have any clue what’s up with him?” they all murmured a no.

…..  
…..  
…..

Turns out, it wasn’t just Emily he was going to snap at. He snapped at JJ, then he snapped at Rossi and his inability to form coherent thoughts and his poor writing style. He told Garcia she had no reason being in the BAU if she couldn’t bare the thought of corpses and Hotch couldn’t deal with the complaints. 

Hotch called Derek into his office “I’m only asking because I know you two are very close, is he…” Hotch struggled for a moment “Dilaudide,” he managed to get out. Morgan froze, he hadn’t heard that word in a long time, and from what he knew, Spencer had stopped taking that a long time ago. 

“I’m on it,” Morgan whispered, rushing to the elevator, and he managed to catch up with Spencer, the doors closed. “Hey, Reid.” He called, touching Spencer’s shoulder when he failed to respond

“Don’t touch me!” he jumped instantly, wiping his shoulder and recoiling as though he’d been burned 

“Jeez kid, calm the hell down!” he frowned “What is wrong with you? Talk to me, pretty boy, you’ve been acting weird all day-“

“Oh, I’ve been acting weird? Just because something’s different, doesn’t mean it’s weird!” He stood tall, and Morgan remembered that this boy genius was the same height as him “I think you’re just feeling challenged, god, such an alpha male,” Reid rolled his eyes, smirking cruelly “Honestly, I don’t know what anyone sees in it-“

“You watch your mouth, Reid. You tell me what’s wrong,”

“Look at you,” he shook his head “So demanding. You are no different to any of the bullies I suffered high school with. Man, I thought I was away from them, but you guys never really go away. You’re stupid Morgan, no place in the FBI, just an overgrown baseball player, wanna-be hero and-“ Morgan shoved him into the metal walls of the elevator with a crunch, but the younger man didn’t even flinch

“Shut your mouth, Reid-“

“And there it is, violence. Unevolved, uneducated, unintelligent, unappealing-“

“I said shut your mouth! Do you have a death wish kid? I’m beginning to think this is exactly why you got the crap beat out of you as a kid, you don’t know when to keep your mouth shut-“

“You suffer from crippling commitment issues, but anyone like you would, no one wants to be with you for more than a few days, so you over compensate and take any attention you can get so-“ the elevator doors opened, to the entire team, just as Morgan let loose a punch, right into the side of Spencer’s face that sent him falling to the side, to hit head on the hand bars, and slump on the floor, blood covering his face.

Morgan stepped back, shaking, and Hotch stepped forward in shock, holding the doors open

“Oh my god,” JJ whispered, “Spence?” her voice was quivering

The young, lean man stumbled, blood running from his nose, his head and his mouth. Hotch caught him as he fell, and he whispered something, something that made everyone forgive him instantly, that made everything he had said okay. That made Derek feel 100 times more guilty. That rendered the tardiness, cruelty, snapping and harsh words all obsolete and nothing mattered but Spencer, and nothing mattered more than seeing him smile again, one thing; “My mother died,” he choked out.

…  
…  
…

“Morgan,” Hotch touched his shoulder softly “It wasn’t your fault, you didn’t know and he was provoking you. You know how it can be, we’re profilers, we know exactly where to make it hurt-“

“No Hotch,” Morgan stood, massaging his temples angrily “Don’t make excuses for me. I punched him right in the face, just like all his childhood bullies did and you know as well as I do that he hasn’t fully come to terms with that yet. I should have realised, I should have had more self control and-“

“Why don’t you go see him, huh? He’s only in the sick room, I don’t think you broke his jaw,” Hotch managed a tight smile “I’m surprised he even came in today, his mother died this morning.” His shoulders slumped “He’s stronger than we give him credit for,”

“I guess he wanted to get his mind off it,” Morgan sighed, he headed down to the sick room, pushing the door open. Reid didn’t see him at first, so Morgan looked him over, the blood had all been cleared up, and he was holding an icepack to his jaw, a cut on his bottom lip and a bruise forming beside his left eye. His eyes were closed and his shoulders slumped dejectedly “Hey pretty boy,” he said quietly. Spencer opened his eyes, nodding, before looking back down at his lap “I’m sorry about that…”

“I deserved it,” he said quietly 

“No Spencer, you didn’t. I don’t ever want to remind you of bullies from your past, I didn’t mean any of what I said-“

“Yeah you did,” Reid cut him off with a smile “You meant everything, but that’s okay. I know who I am. I’m a nerd, and I don’t know when to shut my mouth. I guess you just reminded me.”

“Reid, your mother died. You’re allowed an off day.” Spencer said nothing, removing the ice pack, and making Morgan wince at the damage he’d done. “Damn kid,” he stepped forward “Sometimes I forget how fragile you are, with a brain as strong as anything, it’s easy to slip up,” he brushed his knuckles carefully across Spencer’s cheek, groaning when Spencer leaned in to his touch. “We all care about you, you know? The whole team, we couldn’t stand it if you left us, you get that? Do you have any idea how important you are?”

Spencer said nothing, “I’m sorry I called you uneducated. You’re not. You’re one of the smartest people I know,” was what he managed. He fiddled with the icepack with long, nimble fingers “I just wanted an argument. I wanted…I needed a slap in the face. Or I guess,” a smile tugged on his lips “A good punch in the face would do just fine. I forget where the lines are, sometimes, Morgan, you know? I need you here,” his voice was getting stronger, his eyes weren’t as hollow

“I know, Genius. I need you too,” he wrapped his arms around the younger man, arms soft but firm around the thinners fragile frame. 

Spencer sagged against him “She was on one of her breaks. She didn’t know what she was doing, took all of her tablets are once, over dosed. I had no idea she was resisting medication.” Morgan pressed his lips together, hand on Spencer’s shoulder “I was due to visit next Wednesday,”

“She out-lived expectations, Reid, you know that. And you know that she loved you. And she knew you loved her.”

Spencer whimpered, voice breaking “I know,” his eyes watered, and he rubbed at them harshly “I know, I know, I know, I know…” he continued this mantra “I-I don’t know why this is effecting me. W-we see deaths every day, horrible mutilations and torture but…I can’t-“

“Reid, she was your mother. Of course you’re gonna feel this one,” Morgan leaned down to look the younger one in the eyes “You’ve got such a big brain Reid, that you don’t pay enough attention to this,” he tapped over Reid’s heart, “It’s good to be sad. Good to feel, with this job you forget how to do that, but it’s in there, all these feelings. Believe me, I know.” Spencer nodded, swallowing harshly, leaning in for another hug, and Morgan hugged him tighter, kissing the top of his head, murmuring words of reassurance, and Spencer knew the impossible then.

He would get through this.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me if you liked it, I love Derek and Spencer so much  
> x


End file.
